Parking, schmarking! Uber, anyone?

Wednesday, October 11, 2017

Will Rogers once said, "The road to success is dotted with many tempting parking spaces."

But downtown Seattle, Portland, and scores of places in between? Oh, if only!

In a recent PEMCO Poll, 20% of Northwest drivers say they've changed their plans because couldn't find a parking spot or were put off by high parking prices. And when they see an open but spendy spot? Seventy-two percent say they'd drive past, preferring to burn a little shoe leather and walk in from a more distant, reasonably priced space.

But the lengths and legwork we're willing to go to vary by generation.

Overall, 43% of people say they seek non-driving alternatives to escape parking hassles – walking, biking, or taking public transportation. Drivers under 35 are twice as likely as older drivers to ditch their cars. Millennials also make up the largest chunk of rideshare users who cite parking headaches as a reason for leaving their cars behind (27% versus 12% of everybody else).

Still, there's something to be said for having your own set of wheels as the holiday shopping season approaches. Just ask the guy trying to balance his Black Friday 50-inch flat screen on the handlebars of a LimeBike.

How "typical" are you when it comes to solving parking predicaments? Read the complete PEMCO Northwest Poll, in which Seattle's FBK Research surveyed 1,200 Washington and Oregon residents.